What is Pilates?	Who can do Pilates?	Pilates Machines/Mat Exercises
Benefits of Pilates	About Annette Jackson	Joseph H. Pilates
All Pilates are Not the Same

What is Pilates?

Pilates (pronounced puh-LA-tees) is a unique method of body conditioning named after German-born Joseph H. Pilates. The Pilates method is a designed to stretch, strengthen  and balance the body.   To sum it up in  three words, it is STRENGTH, STRECH & CONTROL. 

The Pilates Method was developed almost 100 years ago as a full body exercise system.  It emphasizes perfect body alignment and proper breathing through a series of controlled movements.  Joseph Pilates originally named his system "Contrology".  This Method uses the trunk of the body including the abdominals, lower back, hips and buttocks as it's  "Powerhouse" and center, which in turn allows the rest of the body to move free.

Joseph believed ideal fitness should begin with education and total body conditioning.  He created over 500 exercises, each with a specific purpose, that would build and develop the body smoothly and harmoniously.  Both the major muscles AND the supportive muscles (which are most often missed in many other workouts) will be uniformly worked.  Every time you perform an exercise in this system, you will be simultaneously strengthening AND stretching the body.  This is what will restore the muscular balance to the body as well as improve posture.   Additionally, the mind is what guides the body through the series of meticulously designed movements.  Joseph intended his system to be built around his six principals: control, precision, concentration, precision, breath and flow. 

What are the Pilates Machines or Apparatus?  What are Mat Exercises?

Both floor or "mat" exercises as well as machine or "apparatus" exercises are encompassed in this system.  The Mat-Work is a series of controlled exercises that utilize the body as resistance.  These exercises, once learned properly can be performed almost anywhere.  This gives you the opportunity to continuously improve your health, anytime, anywhere.

All of the resistance in Pilates comes from springs.  This enables all of the movements to both strengthen and lengthen at the same time, making these machines the most unique in all of the fitness world.  The primary machine is the Reformer.  It is a bed- like platform with a carriage that slides along tracks.  You move the carriage by either pressing against a bar, or pulling the leather straps with your hands or feet.  Over 100 exercises can be performed on the Reformer alone.  Exercises encompass a variety of positions, laying on your back, on your stomach, standing, kneeling, or piking.  Other equipment, most of them spring-loaded, includes the Cadillac, Wunda Chair, Electric Chair, Barrel and Spine Corrector.

The Benefits of Pilates

• Improve strength, flexibility and balance.

• Tone and build long, lean muscles without bulk.

• Challenge deep abdominal muscles to support the core.

• Engage the mind and enhance body awareness.

• Condition efficient patterns of movement making the body less prone to injury.

• Reduce stress, relieve tension, boost energy through deep stretching.

• Restore postural alignment.

• Create a stronger, more flexible spine.

• Promote recovery from strain or injury.

• Increase joint range of motion.

• Improve circulation.

• Heighten neuromuscular coordination.

• Offer relief from back pain and joint stress.

• Correct over-training of muscle groups which can lead to stress and injury.

• Enhance mobility, agility and stamina.

• Compliment any sort of sports or movement training and develop functional fitness for daily life activity.

• Improve the way your body performs, looks, and feels

Who Can Do Pilates?

The answer is ANYBODY!!!!  Pilates is also an extremely flexible exercise system. Modifications to the exercises allow for a range of difficulty ranging from beginning to advanced. For a long time it was favored by dancers, ice skaters and gymnasts.  It has become more and more popular among individuals of all ages who wish to stay in peak condition.  Physical Therapists and orthopedists have found it exceptional to rehabilitate patients and improve posture.  Hollywood has turned to it since it develops a physique that is lithe, toned and supple, and their bodies, simply put, are their business.

Pilates is also one of the best ways for people with HIV/AIDS as well as cancer patients and cancer survivors to incorporate fitness into their lives, without burning out from more traditional western workouts.  It is also appropriate for all levels as well as teens and older adults whose needs are much gentler and specific to their growing and/ or aging conditions.

The Pilates system fits well into athlete's needs.  It works with horse trainers and riders as well as dancers, marathoners, tennis players, football players and golfers.  The flexibility and awareness of movement tends to be a great advantage to many of these athletes.

Through every moment of your training session you will be challenged, motivated and encouraged to meet and exceed your body's potential.

Who was Joseph H Pilates?

Joseph Pilates, of Greek descent, was born in 1880 near Dusseldorf, Germany. Joe was frail as a child, suffering from asthma, rickets and rheumatic fever. He overcame his physical limitations with exercise and body building, becoming a model for anatomical drawings at the age of 14. He was an accomplished skier, diver, boxer and gymnast.  He studied martial arts, Chinese acrobatics, yoga and Zen meditation.   Joe emigrated to England in 1912, where he worked as a self-defense instructor for detectives at Scotland Yard. At the outbreak of World War I, Joe was interned as an "enemy alien" with other German nationals. During his internment, he became a nurse and he refined his ideas and trained other internees in his system of exercise. He rigged springs to hospital beds, enabling bedridden patients to exercise against resistance, an innovation that led to a machine which Joe Pilates eventually named the "Cadillac," one of the main components of what was to become Pilates’ method of exercise. An influenza epidemic struck England in 1918, killing thousands of people, but not a single one of Joe's trainees died. This, he claimed, testified to the effectiveness of his system.

In 1926, Joseph and his wife Clara Pilates arrived in New York City.  He opened his first studio near the New York City Ballet.  By the 1940's Pilates– both the man and his exercises– had begun to achieve notoriety in the dance community. "At some time or other," reported Dance magazine in its February, 1956 issue, "virtually every dancer in New York, and certainly everyone who has studied at Jacob's Pillow between 1939 and 1951, has meekly submitted to the spirited instruction of Joe Pilates."  Legends Martha Graham and George Balanchine were among his clientele.

Joe was a genius and way ahead of his time, he was even quoted saying,"I'm fifty years ahead of my time," .  Many of the principals that he invented almost 100 years ago are just know being touted as a safe and effective way to achieve physical fitness.  Joseph was an icon until he was 87, when complications from a fire took his life in 1967. However, his legacy lives on as Pilates exercise has become one of the most popular and respected fitness systems practiced around the world.  Today, five million Americans practice Pilates, and the numbers continue to grow.
 

With a background in nursing and teaching, Clara Pilates was an asset to Joseph in developing the exercise system and studio business. She continued to run the Pilates Studio™ for years after Joseph's death, passing the reigns to Romana Kryzanowska when she retired. Clara Pilates died in 1977.
 

“Done three times a week, a few well-designed movements, properly executed in sequence, are worth hours of calisthenics or contortions! Whatever your fitness level, I’ll help you establish a workout that you’ll truly enjoy. I’m proud of what a lifetime of practicing Pilates has done for me. Now let me show you what Pilates can do for you.” – Romana Kryzanowska

All Pilates are Not the Same

The popularity of Joseph Pilates's teachings has grown in recent years, and many fitness professionals are now offering pilates-inspired programs, or in some cases combining what they call Pilates with exercises from other training regimens. The True or Authentic Pilates method is different because it refers to the system of exercises that were originally developed and taught by Joseph Pilates, whose unique training regimen has proven itself for more than 80 years as an effective and safe method of exercise.

Romana Kryzanowska is the world-renowned protégé of Joseph Pilates and has been teaching the method for nearly six decades. Long ago Romana made a commitment to Joe and Clara Pilates to continue their life's work and Romana continues to deliver on that promise today by traveling the world and teaching the next generation of instructors. Romana's daughter, Sari Mejia Santo, also shares her mother's lifelong passion for teaching the Pilates method; she also had the opportunity to train directly with Joseph and Clara Pilates, and has been teaching at Romana's side for over three decades.

In order to become a Certified Romana's Authentic Pilates Teacher, one must be guided, trained and tested directly by Romana and Sari and have continued their training by attending Continuing Professional Education with Romana and Sari once or more each year. When your working with a Romana’s Pilates certified instructor, you can be confident you’re getting quality and experience, not an instructor who achieved certification over the weekend or using a fast track approach.

About Annette Jackson

Annette Jackson is a former member of the Joffrey Ballet. She has taught Pilates at Canyon Ranch , Center for Movement in Scarsdale, and Ballet Arts, Pelham.